#mother goose storytime

[barbielore]

In celebration of @thebreakfastgenie having a birthday, the request ahs come in for "anything from" the early 2000s. This was an exceptional period of time for Barbies, featuring such delights as the controversial Happy Family pregnant Midge, and the pop culture collection featuring Faye Wray in King Kong.

But more than that - there are some great playsets from around this time featuring both Barbie and her younger sister Kelly.

For example, one I find personally very charming is Mother Goose Barbie.

Which in addition to the two dolls, also had a storybook, a goose and a pig. (Are there pigs in the Mother Goose canon? Or perhaps Mother Goose was telling a story about a pig? I don't actually know.)

Barbie & Kelly Art Teacher also featured additional items - paints and rubbing plates (including, yes, the Barbie logo) so the kids playing with Barbie can learn just as Kelly does.

Kids love re-enacting things from their real life as well, so naturally there's also a Barbie and Kelly grocery shopping doll, featuring Kelly sitting in the baby seat of a shopping cart.

And why not relax after a long day of sibling bonding with Sleepover Girls, a playset featuring Barbie and Kelly tucking in with a bottle of generic cola and a bucket of popcorn. (And featuring sleeping bags for them to tuck in together afterwards!)

In particular I love Kelly's pink dressing gown. I think she's adorable.

All these just from 2002 - there's plenty more from the era in surrounding years.

Happy birthday @thebreakfastgenie

[meep--tm]

tumblr freaked it & deleted the ask but this is for that anon like a yr ago that asked me to draw rosamund and mother goose together..... Wherever U Are.....

[sweet-storytime]

Mother Goose

TW BEFORE YOU PROCEED

There is mentions of

Blood

Death

Murder

Not eating

Across the pond, a small white duckling sat with its chin propped up on one webbed foot, gazing longingly at the water. A gray goose strolled up to the lonely duckling and nudged him gently in the back with her head. He turned slowly to acknowledge her presence, as if it took all of his energy to move his body. She continued looking at him with one eye, then bowed down a bit and took in a large breath through her beak. When she stood up and exhaled, she sent a stream of air across the little duckling's face, and he sneezed his appreciation. "Goodness Gracious! It's so dark! You'd think the sun would have risen by now," announced Mama Goose to anyone who was listening. "It doesn't matter to me, but I would hate to be you— all alone out here. Why don't you come with me? Maybe Mama could keep you company." The small white duckling seemed to gain strength, as he rose and looked around at the pond growing lighter by the minute. An expression of determination came over his round face as he thrust his chest forward and scrambled after his new mother into the forest— determined to taste new berries and find other lost ducklings in need of his own brand of comfort. A little while later, the duckling stumbled upon its mother's bloodied body in the grass. The duckling tried to clean her with its beak and couldn't understand that it was already too late. The baby bird's mother had passed away. Feeling the immense weight of his sadness, he gathered her close and prayed that mother goose would find him and lend him some comfort. She found him and brought him back to the place she called home. She gave him food, but he simply couldn't eat; he was too overcome with sorrow for the mother that he had lost. It took a while, but he eventually began to eat again. Mother Goose was overjoyed that she had a son, although it took murder to get him. His birth mother didn't deserve him if she'd left him behind so callously. But why does Mother Goose feel guilty? She got what she wanted.

[xxxcryptidxxx]

Kaveh AgeRe Headcanons

Slight Warning: nightmares, bedwetting, emetophobia, mommy issues, spoilers for Kaveh's backstory, read at your own volition

Kaveh is a flip!

—Kaveh is a flip with a little lean!

—Kaveh's regression age is 0-3, he's baby!

—Kaveh's primary caregiver(s) are Alhaitham, Tighnari, Cyno, and on a few rare occasions, Wanderer!

—You'd think he'd be a high maintenance/high energy little due to how hyper he is as an adult, but baby Kaveh is actually rather low energy. He likes taking naps quite a lot too.

—Kaveh's favorite toys are a Goose plushie named Gee, and a tin of building blocks Alhaitham bought him. Kaveh loves building little towers and houses. Kaveh takes Gee everywhere with him, and Kaveh will cry if Gee gets "hurt" (stained fur/ripped fabric/fell in some mud/all those things) and will be inconsolable until Gee is better.

—Kaveh cries quite a surprising amount, the smallest things make him cry, he dropped his bottle? Its the end of the world. The sky isn't the right shade of blue? Unacceptable. Oftentimes a warm bottle and a cuddle will calm him down, but sometimes Kaveh just needs/wants to cry.

—Kaveh's pacifier is orange and yellow with a lion sticker, it's basically glued to his mouth, it's one of the reasons why Kaveh is nonverbal when in Littlespace.

—Kaveh is a padded little, he has nightmares of when his parents left, especially his father, which often leads to needing a diaper change.

—Kaveh wears almost exclusively onesies, he hates wearing adult clothes, especially his usual attire with the open chest.

—Kaveh has been mistaken as a girl, which he takes as a compliment. Kaveh doesn't mind being girly, which Alhaitham thinks is cute and likes to see how far that goes, so far Alhaitham has gotten away with putting Kaveh's hair in pigtails, dressing him in all pink, and on one occasion, even put Kaveh in a dress. Which Kaveh thoroughly enjoyed.

—Kaveh has mild food restrictions, he is a vegan as an adult, but he's made it clear to his caregivers that he'd rather eat meat or animal products then make his little-self go hungry. Oftentimes, Kaveh just has fruit and Oat milk bottles, but on a few rare occasions, he'll help Ali—The name is little-self blessed Alhaitham with—finish up some eggs.

—Kaveh gets stress-sickness a lot when he's small, especially when he thinks about his parents, poor baby throws up a lot because of stress, which means he's in bed a lot. Tighnari is an impromptu pediatrician at times, making sure Kaveh is okay.

—Kaveh can, will, and has cried over thinking his caregiver(s) was leaving him, even just being in a different room for too long will send him into hysterical pleading that he'll be good and that he won't cause anymore troubles and to just please keep loving him. (Alhaitham is not too happy over how his mother let her grief traumatize Kaveh)

—Kaveh's primary little(s) are Alhaitham, Tighnari, and Cyno! On rare occasions he'll babysit Aether.

—surprisingly, Kaveh prefers feminine titles like "mama" over more masculine ones like "dada".

—absolutely loves reading/playing with his kiddos, Kaveh is the go-to for storytime in Sumeru, hands-down the best storyteller in the region.

—Kaveh isn't afraid to dress up/get dirty with his kiddos, his Little's are the only ones allowed to touch his hair, what an honor!

—Kaveh can't cook that well—his parents never taught him—but that doesn't mean his Little's are living off fast food, Kaveh is teaching himself simple, baby-safe foods, so far, all his Little's unanimously agree his fruit purées are amazing.

—Kaveh has an amazing singing voice, but he gets stage-freight, he only sings to his babies when he thinks they are asleep.

—Kaveh loves carrying/holding his Little's, which works for him because 3 out of 4 of the Little's he cares for are clingy infants.

—Kaveh is a rather emotional person as we know, you can expect any art work his babies have made him framed on the wall, and he will brag about how talented his Little's are to anyone/anything with the ability to hear.

—the best at comforting, Kaveh knows all the right words—or lack of words—to calm and comfort his babies, Mama Kaveh always is open for a cuddle if needed.

[barbie-edits]

Mother Goose Storytime. Kelly looking adorbz and Barbie in the raddest pants.

[civicart-old]

Welcome to Buster's Bruncharia!

This is just one of the three ideas of sets of animatronic characters for FNAF-inspired eatertainment establishments.

The Characters:

Buster the Dog: Lead singer and the face of the Bruncharia.

Flower the Rabbit: Buster's backup singer.

Bessie the Cow: Operates as a waitress.

Mother Goose: Has a stand-alone attraction called "Storytime with Mother Goose" where she reads stories to younger children.

Bullseye the Horse: Has a stand-alone attraction called "The Adventure Hour".

Bandit the Raccoon: Shares "The Adventure Hour" with Bullseye.

Shelia the Sheep: Although she originally performed onstage with Buster and Flower but she was eventually decommissioned.

[binxaroo]

Honk yaaaa we are a week away from Honkmas! Starting in 15 minutes I'll be streaming World of Warcraft leveling my hunter. It's also storytime Sunday with Goose Mother! For tonight we have- No One Likes a Fart. Come on by for a goose time with WoW and a silly book. www.twitch.tv/binxaroo #smallstreamer #twitchstreamer #twitch #storytime #goosevibes https://www.instagram.com/p/CmVIYOlL7Z8/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[loverofcutetoys]

[prettylittleheartfilia]

Family Day

Pairing: Nalu

Word Count: 1,280

Happy NaLu Day everyone!! Thought I’d do some nalu family fluff to celebrate :3

Also, thanks to my tumblr-less friend for helping me with my writer’s block. I hate you, idiot. ❤️

“Luna, please stay still so mommy can do your hair.” Sighed Lucy, trying to coax her daughter into sitting in front of her.

“But it’s boring” Drawled the five year old.

“Well, if you don’t sit then we are going to be late for Family Day. We don’t want to be late for that now, do we?”

The little girl’s eyes went wide as she hurried to sit on the floor with her back turned to her mother. Lucy smiled triumphantly as she began to brush Luna’s salmon colored locks.

Today was Family Day in Luna’s school, a day where parents spend the entire day with the kids in class and do a bunch of activities. The little girl had been talking about this day for weeks, excited about the fact that she could finally show her cool parents to her friends and teacher, according to her own words -- which made Natsu and Lucy feel really proud at knowing their daughter thought they were cool.

“Luce, you almost done?” Called Natsu from the bathroom.

“Yeah, just a second!” Answered the blonde as she finished placing two little star hair clips on each side of the front of Luna’s parted hair. “And we’re all done. You look beautiful, sweetie.” And she wasn’t lying. The independent little girl insisted on choosing what to wear for school herself the night before. Apprehensive as she was at letting her do this, Lucy thanked God when Luna finally decided on a white long sleeve skater dress with a collar. --She was glad the kindergartener didn’t get her sense of style from her father. Her salmon colored pigtails went well with the dress-- it was always hard to find clothing that would go well with the girl’s unusual hair color, and her gold flats complemented the accessories on her head.

After giving her daughter a kiss, Lucy stood and headed for the bathroom, where her husband was struggling to tie a tie in front of the mirror.

“Need any help?” Chuckled the blonde as she approached her husband.

“These things are way more complicated than they look” Natsu grumbled under his breath.

“Umm, no.” Drawled his wife. “You just have no patience.” She finished tying the tie effortlessly and Natsu gave her a dirty look while she smirked. “You look handsome.” She said as she eyed his business casual attire.

“You don’t look so bad yourself.” Natsu eyed his wife’s pale pink skater dress, similar to Luna’s, and white low heels with an approving look, which made Lucy blush. She smiled and got closer to Natsu, about to kiss him when a high pitched voice interrupted them.

“Mommy, Daddy, let’s go! You can kiss later!” The parents blushed and laughed at their daughter’s remark. Natsu approached the little girl and lifted her up, positioning her on his hip.

“Alright, pretty girl. Let’s go to school.”

“Finally!” Drawled the little girl dramatically. The parents chuckled as the little family went out of their home and started heading towards the elementary school.

The kindergarten classroom was filled with parents and enthusiastic little kids. The room was nicely decorated, with all of the kids’ works hanging on the walls, everything organized and clean, and a table full of snacks in the corner, where both Natsu and his daughter wanted to head immediately, but Lucy stopped them. The desks that were regularly part of the classroom where no longer there. Instead, there were chairs on the far back, where everyone was expected to sit, and the front was left clear of any furniture.

Luna instantly dragged her parents around the room to show them her pieces of art enthusiastically. She went on and on about how she’s always doing her work and gaining gold stars, and how her teacher was impressed with how the little girl would rather read a book instead of sleep like her other classmates during naptime. Lucy was very proud of hearing this, since her and Levy had made it their mission to teach Luna to read as soon as she turned four, and she was glad to know that her child loved reading as much as she did.

“Good morning, everyone!”

“Good morning, Miss Penelope!” Answered all the little kids at their teacher.

“I’m glad to see you all here! Please take a seat. Today, we have a lot of activities planned for everyone! We are going to have a lot of fun, right little ones?” All the kids cheered at their teacher’s words. Apparently, Luna was not the only one of her class very excited for this day.

After a little orientation, the day was filled with lots of activities. The parents and guardians had to introduce themselves and what they did for a living. The kids were fascinated at Natsu’s job as a firefighter, and at how Lucy created stories like the ones they read during storytime, which gave Luna even more reasons to think her parents were the coolest. They made arts and crafts, played Duck, Duck, Goose, went to the playground and had a three-legged race (parents against parents and kids against kids), which seemed like a fun idea until Luna was paired with a little boy, which made papa bear Natsu a bit irritable.

After naptime, when parents finally had a time to relax, Miss Penelope announced the last activity of the day: finger painting. Everyone was given a few pieces of paper and some paint. Luna shoved her hands in the paint and plastered them on the paper, leaving an imprint of her little hands on the paper. Lucy found it adorable and set it on the side to dry, planning to take it home and put it up on the refrigerator later.

“Wow, Daddy! You’re so good at this!” Said the kindergartener in awe at her father’s “work of art”, which consisted of two stick figures, a sun, a house, and a few trees.

“I’ll make sure to put this one on the refrigerator too.” Teased Lucy, to which Natsu smirked.

“You want me to teach you?” He asked his daughter, who eagerly nodded her head.

After being taught how to do random doodles with her fingers, Luna decided to do a painting of her own, without showing her parents until the very end to surprise them.

“Everyone done with their paintings?” All the kids nodded, including Luna who had just finished hers. “Alright, before we go, does anyone want to show their beautiful masterpieces to the class? Parents can participate too!”

Luna raised her hand avidly and was called on by her teacher.

“Okay, Luna, please show us your drawing and explain to us what it is.” Said Miss Penelope as she took a seat.

The Dragneel daughter turned around her painting to reveal two stick figures really close together, one with pink lines all around its head, and the other one with yellow paint attached to its head which reached its waist. Hearts were painted all around them. “This is my daddy, Natsu. And this is my mommy, Lucy.” She pointed to each stick figure respectively. “They’re kissing, because that’s what they do all the time.”

The parents stared wide eyed at their smirking little devil, their faces getting redder and redder with each of the smooching sounds and “ewws” that the other kids made.

“Oh, God.” Muttered Lucy, as she covered her face with the palms of her hands.

“Well, she’s not lying, is she?” Teased an amused Natsu with a smirk on his face, which only got bigger as Lucy nudged him.

Their first school Family Day was something, and they could not wait to do it all over again next year.

[chevrefoildreams]

8:32 AM EST

Anne Louise was born 1 year ago today!

I can’t believe she’s already a year old! Stop growing up so fast, my little Anne-Banane. 

Anne at one year:

1) She’s not quite walking yet but she’s a great cruiser and stands pretty well on her own for short periods of time! 

2) She is an expert babbler and is starting to say stuff that sounds like words -- she’ll say  ‘Yeah!’ or “Yay!” when she’s excited and “Gah!” when she wants something you’re holding. She’s repeated ‘bye’ and ‘hi’ a couple times with meaning.

3) She loves books! Anne adores going through her books and her favorites are her “Don’t Touch A Dragon” book, Mother Goose rhymes and “Where’s Spot” with the flaps that she can look under.  I got her Eloise and Madeline for her birthday :-) 

4) She is a champ eater of all the things but her favorite is pasta and meat sauce. She’s not as enthusiastic about beans -- red, black, green, pinto, etc... I think the texture puts her off. She also won’t eat any of the “official” baby foods except for the spaghetti and rings or mac n’cheese from gerber. 

5) Baths are still one of her least favorite activities but she enjoyed her first big girl bath with her very own little toy boat and little people figures last weekend. That is, she enjoyed it until her daddy squirted her with a little water from one of the floaty fish toys and she started crying. He felt bad about it! She drowned her boat’s captain and capsized the boat about a billion times :p 

6) She loves making people clap! She’ll start clapping and if you don’t copy her, she’ll get frustrated haha. 

7) She loves make mommy sing ‘The Itsy Bitsy Spider’ over and over and over and over and over again. Each time I finish, she’ll clap her hands and announce, ‘Ghen!!’ (sorta sounds like again without the beginning ‘a’).

8) She starts her first ‘class’ this Wednesday. It’ll be mostly crafts, songs and games. I need to also find another storytime for her since her class is right in the middle of the Wee Folks storytime at our library.

9) She is an expert at crib yoga. Maybe she’ll be a gymnast! (Not much of a chance, honestly. I’m terrible at gymnastics as is her dad.)

10) She adores dogs and is always trying to pet them. If you put her in her walker and she has tons of energy, she’ll scoot all over the house chasing after poor Hamlet.

[jeaneybean]

Vlad the werewolf is way stronger than our entire party

probably combined, motherfucker leaps and shit with two humans attached to him.

Phase into town, with Wolf-Wolf (who has an actual name, but noone remembers it) pawing at his nose a bit, unable to keep the trail of Fyodora since we’d entered into a highly populated area. After Oz makes a quip about the church on the hill and if this were one of his mother’s romance books she’d be up there as they entered town, Nitahn heads up to the church with Vera and Oz in tow. Magnolia and Jake head to check the inns and park the wagon.

At the church Vera gets the heebie jeebies, and once she does a detect evil it turns out the church isn’t on holy ground. The head priest (who follows Brewstar the god of brewing and bad poetry) is evil, the altar to the kessia family is tainted. Fun stuff. While Nitahn and Vera fail at keeping the priest answered (and oz makes fun of them) They learn he hasn’t seen Fyodora or Vlad, though he agrees to show them around town (Read: Go bar hopping)

As they do that, Mags and Jake ask at the taverns to see if anyone’s seen the pair. With two places saying no Jake decides to gather attention by doing a performance, and while he’s doing that Magnolia asks the gathered people if they’ve seen Fyodora or Vlad. She gets a hit, and the pair of them head towards where they’d last been spotted.

Vera and Nitahn accompany Butch the priest into the bar while Oz sits outside with Wolf-Wolf. The priest drinks and gets more sexist as he drinks, and Vera inquires around if anyone’d seen the pair. She gets no hits, but outside Wolf-Wolf perks up and Oz spots Fyodora and Vlad. He sends a message to Vera, who grabs Nitahn and is like ‘we gotta go now’. They leave the bar and Wolf-Wolf runs up to Fyodora and Vlad is like ‘FUCK’ before bolting with Fyodora down a side street.

Vera leads the charge in with her first 20 of the session and choses to try and intimidate Vlad, telling him that if he puts a hand on Fyodora she’ll take it off. He responds by shifting into wolf form and grabbing onto Fyodora’s dress with his teeth. Nitahn goes to grapple with him and Oz casts haste on the party and Fyodora. Vera pulls out her sword and swings, critically striking Vlad in the face with her silvered blade. (Second 20 of the session). This pisses him off, but he tries to get away from Nitahn instead of strike back. Vera goes to the head of the wolf and tells Nitahn to pin him, then tells Vlad he’s got a chance to talk it out like humans or he can die like an animal.

Nitahn can’t maintian the grapple, and Vlad tries to get past Vera. A poor choice, because Vera attacks and crits again (A 20, confirming that with another 20, and failing to confirm triple threat. But still.), striking him hard in the side. Nitahn’s punching him and tries to get his good eye with his silver rings and rejoins the grapple. Oz casts oozing slime on Fyodora and has her smack him in the face a bit.

Vlad is now pretty pissed at Vera, and lashes out at her, attacking her and also tripping her badly (He crit his trip attempt, vera crit failed her save) and sends her sprawling ass over teakettle onto the ground. He jumps up onto the  nearby roof, dragging both Fyodora (who he’s still got a mouth on) and Nitahn (who’s still involved in the grapple) up with him. He bolts. Vera tries to climb up onto the roof, fails, tries again, crit fails. Oz tries to climb a bit, then gives up and starts running after, with Vera coming after him on her turn.

Oz hits the people on the roof with two spells: the first one stuns all three of them and also strikes vlad prone (and also deafens Fyodora) and this alerts Jake and Magnolia to their presence. The second spell he uses is glitterdust and he blinds both Vlad and Fyodora. Vlad starts bitching at them in Rusk, and Vera tears right back into him with her horribly accented Rusk. Vlad yells at her for getting into things she didn’t understand and only wanting to fight, Vera’s like FUCK YOU I GAVE YOU TWO OUTS TO TALK and they argue for a bit before Oz is like ‘hey, the spell-’ and as soon as the glitterdust wears off he’s off, dragging Fyodora at his full movement speed since he’s not encumbered by nitahn anymore. 

Jake has Mayhem chase after them via air and runs off, with a short discussion sending Magnolia and Oz back into town for the cart while Vera and Nitahn head off with jake into the woods. It’s team Impulse vs Team competent thought (with Vera providing the switch character, as currently she is livid regarding the werewolf sass) and Team Impulse uses Wolf Wolf to track Vlad’s huge blood trail. At one point Vlad steals clothes and Vera remarks that at least he’ll put on some fucking pants. They track through the night with Vera’s torchlight and Jake’s low light vision leading the way.

Meanwhile, Oz and Magnolia have bonding time (where their players went out of the room and had storytime with one another) and slept while continuing to follow the road southeast, the direction we’d been heading. (And towards the Werewolf territory)

Int he early morning Team Impulse follows the trail after an area that looks like there’s been a struggle and finds that Vlad had caught a deer and tied Fyodora’s dress to it and had slipped them up. They kill the wounded animal and have breakfast before bringing Wolf-Wolf back to the struggle area and track Vlad’s blood from there.

As Magnolia and Oz keep driving the cart they start seeing/hearing things in the woods. They urge the donkies on faster, and the donkies are getting really upset. Veli’s pretty upset as well, and when wolf-like shapes and red eyes get pretty close Oz casts haste on the Donkies and Magnolia spurs them on, heading down a lesser used road. Oz tells Magnolia that those weren’t wolves, they were worgs. Worgs are intelligent. They’re likely being corraled.

As team Impulse approaches dark on their second day int he woods (Without sleep/rest, because humans are pirsuit predators and they’re also idiots) Nitahn starts hearing things. He hears his donkies. Vera and Jake hear nothing, but after a bit Jake hears the noise too. Vera goes over to where Nitahn is and hears jack shit (While scoring some really high listen checks). She tries to remind him of the time that they fought the mimic and there was suddenly the skeleton, this might be a magical thing.

Jake yells out for Magnolia, and Nitahn calls out to Oz and the Donkies, with Vera calling out for the creature most likely to hear: Veli. They get no response, but as they go throught he woods a bit more they see a dark, tall creature. Through torchlight Vera sees a beautiful black horse. Jake and Nitahn? They see a beautiful black unicorn.

It seems friendly with Nitahn, but it shies away from Jake when he attempts to ride it. Jake is then like ‘we should kill it, no one’s going to beleive us’ and Vera’s like ‘it’s a fucking horse, what are you freaking out about’. The Unicorn jogs off, with nitahn and Jake persuing and Vera following.

Nitahn dashes out after the unicorn and into a road, where something large is barreling down the path. He hits the center spoke of the wagon and gets knocked down and ran over, with Oz and Magnolia being like WHAT THE FUCK DID WE HIT OH GOD and they stop the cart when they spot Vera and Jake running out after Nitahn. There’s a brief reunion and Nitahn points out the unicorn. Oz also sees the horn, Magnolia does not, but she recognizes that it’s a unicorn with a knowledge nature check. She implores it to help them because there’s a fuck ton of worgs after them. Nitahn touches the Unicorn while Vera yells at him tmo avoid water, apparently thinking it’s a kelpie and not a unicorn. (Vera does not know what a goose is. Vera knows what a kelpie is. Why.) She climbs up on the cart beside Oz.

The Worgs start howling and circling and up in the trees a voice calls out, saying that it’s pet had caught it another pure hearted maiden. There’s the world’s most steriotypical vampire in the trees, preening as he looks over the group and he kind of gets a bit knocked off his script when he realizes that it’s not the pretty blonde girl or the handsome dark elf or the strapping half orc or the roguishly cute boy the Unicorn has gravitated to. nope. It’s a big hairy guy. Vera cackles from the cart, and end scene.

VERA IS 600 EXP FROM BEAR

[andy-clutterbuck]

Rick ‘Mother Goose’ Grimes

Lead storytime, Rick. Someone find him a stuffed goose on a run and give it to him, I wanna see his face.

[childrensroom-harvardpublib]

There are lots of great events at the library in the next few weeks!

Below are just a few of the upcoming programs - see the entire list on the library's website!

Virtual Lego Expo - entire month of March

Challenge Trivia with the Trivia Brothers - April 8

Saturday Storytime with Funny Stories - March 27

Mother Goose on the Loose Storytime on Mondays and Thursdays

See the event descriptions on the library's website for information about how to register for these virtual programs!  🙂

[buckybarnesappreciationsociety]

Kindergarten Blues

Summary: Time has come for little Stevie, 5 years old, to start kindergarten and Bucky’s having a difficult time grasping the concept of his little boy growing up. Steven  Barnes crosses into the scholastic realm. How will Bucky deal with his little man leaving the nest?

Pairings: Bucky x Reader OFC Steven James and Bella Barnes, Ms. Nelson, Kindergarten Teacher

Warning: Separation anxiety and a boatload of happiness

A/N: This fic is part of “The Chronicles of Bucky Barnes-Family Man.” From time to time, I’ll post one shots about Bucky, his wife, Bella and little Steven. I wanted to write how he handles his kids growing up. Hope you like it. Feedback is encouraged and thank you for reading!

You’ve heard of kids crying, latching themselves onto their parent’s leg on the first day of kindergarten. Somber mothers and fathers peeped in the door’s window, searching for one more glance of their “baby.” What they fail to realize is it’s 8:00 a.m. and the school dismisses kindergartners at noon.

James Buchanan Barnes felt as if little Stevie was going off to war. Two weeks prior to the first day, he was a real sourpuss. And from what Jillian gathered, those poor new recruits caught pure hell. So much so that Nick Fury spoke to Bucky and requested he ease up a bit. Bucky complied.

Jillian thought it funny the way her teddy bear husband was acting. She understood what Bucky was going through; she’d experienced the same thing with Bella. Come to think of it, he went with them to school and had to be dragged away!

Uncle Tony paid tuition for Bella and little Stevie to attend the uber exclusive “Whittington School.” Before his niece and nephew even set foot in the door, all staff members were stringently vetted. He made sure no stone was left unturned. This school was attended by kids with “extraordinary” parents.

The likes of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, Bruce Wayne, Scott Lang among a few had their children enrolled in the school because security was high and the buildings were secure. Cameras were strategically placed around the perimeter, infrared beams dotted the treelines and a reinforced wall kept hooligans out. If all that wasn’t enough, kids wore mini-trackers, attached to the inside of their clothes, just in case an incident occurred.

The Night Before “D-Day”

Sitting on his bed, little Stevie packed his Iron Man backpack. Bucky walked in his room and sat next to him and said, Hey son, you ready for school?” Little Stevie couldn’t contain his enthusiasm, “Yeah daddy, I can’t wait to meet my teacher and make friends and see Bella and…”

Bucky chuckled, “Slow down pardner. Breathe.”

Inhaling loudly, the excited little fella spoke again, “Oh and I already know my ABC’s and my colors and some of my numbers! Daddy, can we go NOW?” Bucky pulled him onto his lap, “Tomorrow is Monday. That’s when you go to school.” Laughter erupted as little Stevie jumped up and down on his bed singing, “♫♪♫I’M GOING TO SCHOOL IN THE MORNING♪♫♪!”

Bucky insisted his son get some sleep. Little Stevie pouted but eventually relented, not before he tucked his backpack under the covers. .

Bucky wore a tight smile on his face. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach and heart. Bella and little Stevie were growing up right before his eyes!

Jillian sitting against the headboard of their bed reading, put her book down when her glum husband meandered into the room.

She knew her brooding husband suffered a case of ‘my kids are growing up too fast.’ Jillian beckoned him to the bed and Bucky complied. Gently stroking his chocolate locks, Jillian asked, “Buck, look at me.” He turned his gaze towards his compassionate wife. “You knew this day would come sooner or later. Remember Bella’s first day of kindergarten?” He nodded. “I had to practically yank all of the Avengers from the school. You, Steve and Wanda cried, while Tony videotaped the event. Let’s not forget Nat whispering in Bella’s ear self-defense moves.”

The bed rumbled with his laughter. Placing a chaste kiss on Jillian’s lips, Bucky mused, “Yeah I remember that. Sam was on a mission. He had a fit. That was a great day.”

Rolling her eyes, Jillian pretended to hit her husband in the chest. She smiled, “Yeah he was fit to be tied!” They looked at each other and burst into raucous laughter.

“Come on Sarge, it’s bedtime. Early day tomorrow.” Jillian turned the bedside lamp off and pulled the cover over herself. Bucky draped his left arm over her body and pulled her close to him. Sleep came to pulled him under its spell.

First Day of School

The alarm clock buzzed at 6:00 a.m. Bucky reached back and swatted it, rolling back over.

Jillian attempted to move but a heavy metal appendage laying across her body prevented it.

Struggling to get loose, Bucky protested and asked for 5 more minutes. Jillian pecked him on the nose and shuffled into the bathroom.

Bucky groaned, “Oh well, let’s get this over with.”

Walking down the hall, giggles came from little Stevie’s room. As he got closer, the voices of Bella and her brother was heard.

Opening the door, the kids ran to his arms for a bear hug from daddy.

Little Stevie let out a high pitched laugh, “Good morning daddy. Is it time to go yet?”

Bella chimed in, “No silly goose. We’re not dressed. C’mon little bro, let’s eat.”

The smell of pancakes, bacon and eggs caught the attention of the hungry bear and his cubs.

Bella and little Stevie said ‘good morning’ to Jillian. She in turn began platting their food.

Bucky loved sitting at the table with his wife and kids. He’d laugh and carry on sometimes intense conversations with his 12 year old daughter. Bella was so intelligent and well-spoken. Her favorite subjects were math and science.

After breakfast came the moment of truth. While Jillian got little Stevie ready, Bucky filled his son’s backpack. Inside were Bucky bear, a Captain America jacket and cap. Leaning against the doorway, his wife shook her head.

Time To Let Him Go (Until Noon)

After clearing security, the Barnes family stepped inside. Bella hugged her parents and walked toward her locker. Little Stevie’s was absolutely amazed at his classroom.

Along the wall hung animals, alphabets and numbers. There were little cubbies to hang backpacks and jackets. Tiny tables and chairs dotted the center of the room, along with a reading corner with every Dr. Seuss book imaginable. The carpet was a giant jigsaw puzzle. 2 restrooms off to the side of the classroom and a spacious outside play area, with swings, slides, see saws, and horses that teters back and forth on heavy duty springs.

Ms. Nelson, one of the instructors, greeted them. “Good morning Barnes family. I’m Ms. Nelson, Stevie’s teacher.” Bucky and Jillian exchanged pleasantries while little Stevie found his personalized cubbie and hung his backpack.

Running back to Bucky, he jumped in his daddy’s arms and whispered in his ear, “Daddy, I’m gonna have so much fun. I love you.” Bucky smiled as little Stevie ran off again to greet his classmates.

“Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, Steven will be fine. We encourage parents to leave once the kids have turned their backs and start playing. This makes it easier on them not to see their parents crying.”

Jillian couldn’t stifle her laughter. “C’mon Sarge, let’s go home. Our son’s gonna be just fine.”

Hesitating, Bucky walked to the door and tried to turn around, but Jillian pulled him out the door and into their car.

First Day Joy

Like clockwork, Bucky and Jillian anxiously waited outside for their son in the pick-up lot. Kids were escorted out to their parents vehicles by their teachers.

Spotting his daddy, little Stevie sprinted into his arms and hugged him around the neck.

Breathing hard, little Stevie ran down the day’s activities. “Mommy, daddy I had a lot of fun. Ms. Nelson’s really nice. She asked who knew their alphabets and I raised my hand.

Then I said them and she said I was really smart and at art, Marcus, Linda and me sat at the table together, they’re my friends and we went outside and ran around and we came back inside for storytime and we had lunch and then, Bella came by and a waved at me!”

Jillian and Bucky snickered as their over zealous son continued to ramble on and on about the day’s events.

Squeezing Jillian’s hand, Bucky knew from that day forward, life would change for them. Growth is inevitable. As a parent, the reality of your ‘baby birds’ leaving the  nest tugs at the heartstrings.  Simply roll with the punches, hold tight to the memories made and look forward to those milestones still to come.

[geekedlibrarian]

Stolen gratuitously from Storytime Underground:

Thank you for contributing to my “lapsit fun fact” request thread on Storytime Underground!

Some of these facts were posted by members like you. Others were taken from my brain, and still others were pulled from resources by:

Melissa Depper / Mel’s Desk Betsy Diamant-Cohen / Mother Goose on the Loose Saroj Ghoting / EarlyLiteracy.net

Some of these are from notes I have taken over the years, or they may be direct quotes or slightly modified quotes from my sources. Sometimes, my only contribution beyond making the template itself was connecting the literacy tip to the rhyme or activity on the top.

I began this project to use these cards as a resource or training tool for my new staff members. I tried to tie each tip to a subject, or activity, or rhyme so that when staff members are planning a lapsit storytime, they can match a card to something that ia already on a plan and take the card with them into the storytime. They can continue to use the cards until they get comfortable making these connections naturally, on their own, as things come up in storytimes.

If you would like an editable version of these cards (in publisher format), please email me at drinehart@lex.lib.sc.us

Hope these are helpful! -Doreen Rinehart, MLIS

[loopy-atla-fanfic]

Touchpoints

Rating: T Characters: Sokka, Mai, Zuko, Izumi, OC Relationships: Sokka/Mai/Zuko OT3 Summary: Zuko, Mai, and Sokka have found a way to make it work. It's just difficult, sometimes. Families are delicate, and sometimes armed revolutionaries try to kill them.

AO3 | FanFiction.Net | deviantArt

Note: Another mirrored fic thing done with @thingsareswinging. Thanks!

Touchpoints

1. Amado

Sokka breathed a sigh of relief as, beneath him, Eelie jumped free of the waves and began bounding across the Capital Island shore. The sun was only just starting to set; he had made it in time.

He wondered if he was setting some kind of record for the number of times he had crossed an entire ocean on the back of an eelhound. And was there some kind of prize for that?

He didn't need to do more than just hold the reins while Eelie made her way to Caldera City. She knew her way around here by now, avoiding the harbor and using her size to climb up the dormant volcano's sides. She also knew enough that, when she reached the rim, she followed it around to the city gate instead of just plunging down the inner slope and cutting across whatever compound the found at the bottom. One time with that kind of trouble was enough for both Eelie and Sokka both.

He didn't need more trouble, now. Not after the argument he had with Aang, the last time they saw each other. Aang's words of, "Do you really think you can make it work?" echoed unpleasantly in Sokka's mind.

Once they were past the gate, Eelie practically flew through the city streets. The denizens in turn showed their own familiarity with the big eelhound, shouting familiar insults and curses as she bounded around and over any people, carriages, and objects in her path. Sokka, for his part, shouted familiar apologies and promises that this was the last time he'd be in such an inconvenient hurry, honest.

Then they were at the palace.

Sokka made his goodbyes to Eelie as he got down from the saddle and passed the reins to the stablemaster. His boots had barely touched the ground before he was plunging right past the guards and into the palace. He made his way straight for the stairway that would lead up to the residential area, so intent on keeping up his speed that that he barely registered when a spear was tipped to block his path.

Sokka skidded to a halt and looked to the offending soldier. Zuko had long since done away with the all-concealing facemasks of the Crimson Guard, but Sokka didn't recognize this guy. "What's the deal? It's me! Sokka! See, I'm the one who wears blue."

The guard frowned. "I know who you are, but only the Royal Family is allowed up there without an escort. I will-"

The guy stopped talking when the other guard from the opposite side of the staircase came over and smacked him on the back of the helmet. "Just shut it."

Sokka knew this guard. "How's your wife, Reo?"

"Doing much better, Amado. Thank you. You can go right on up. I'll take care of the kid, here. He's new. Sorry for the trouble."

"It's fine, it's fine," Sokka lied. "Tell your family hello for me!"

As he trotted up the stairs, he dimly heard the new guard saying, "Isn't 'Amado' an old Sun Warrior word?"

Sokka didn't stick around for the explanation. He already knew what it meant.

He found Mai and the kids exactly where he expected. They had already decorated the private dining room with lanterns and some of the ceremonial furs he had left here, and he had no sooner walked through the door than Kosshi was running over to him and shouting, "Amado! Amado! Lookit, I need to show you!"

Sokka finally slowed as the five-year-old took a basic fighting stance, wobbling a bit as he found his center, and then ducked down briefly to come up with a rising punch. It was a sloppy strike and wouldn't have reached even up to the surface of the dinner table waiting laden for them, but that clearly wasn't the point.

A burst of flame popped up just beyond Kosshi's fist.

Sokka was struck frozen, but only for a moment. He glanced over at Mai to find that of course her face was blank, and focused on her eyes and found that they were somehow both warm and sad. She remained where she was by the dinner table as Izumi trotted over and wrapped her little brother in a hug.

"I told you it'd happen one day," Izumi said, planting a kiss on the crown of Kosshi's head. "Everyone born into the Royal Family is a Firebender. My lessons said."

"That's right!" Sokka crouched down and put his own arms around the kids. They seemed so small and fragile, but so warm and lively. He wished he could stay around to hold them more often, but sometimes a man's duties took him away from his tribe, and this world had a lot of duties to go around. "And that was a pretty good start on your uppercuts. Tomorrow I'll show you how to really put some power behind one of those. I bet it'll make your Firebending even stronger."

Kosshi grin grew wider at the praise, and Sokka's heart flipped at how much happiness he could give the kid with just a few words. It was actually kind of terrifying.

Izumi drew Kosshi's attention with her own Firebending tips, and Sokka stood up to find Mai approaching. She walked past and around him, reaching out to brush the back of his neck with her cold hands, sending shivers down Sokka's spine that had nothing to do with her body temperature, and spoke in that almost-quiet tone of voice that kids often ignored for not being clandestine enough to merit attention: "Aang swung by last night on his way back to Republic City. He looked in on Kosshi while he was sleeping, and then had to get going if he was going to make it in time for his own Kitungak." She pressed her lips together, draining the color from them. "I'm sorry. To you both."

Sokka wanted to say that he wasn't sorry, that making sure Kosshi could grow up without the specter of an inquisition hanging over his head was well worth it.

But a part of him was a little sorry. Whatever Kosshi might have become, he was a Firebender now. Whatever he might have chosen for himself, his path was unalterable now.

And that path took him a little further away from Sokka.

On the other hand, Aang apparently had done this willingly. He was giving what had requested.

Support like that was no small thing.

A heavy arm, one full of strength and heat, fell around Sokka's shoulders. It was a strength and heat that gave Sokka life, and he looked to the side to see Zuko's smiling, scarred face saying, "They told me you arrived. The sun will set in five minutes."

"Well, then, we better get his thing going." He threw his own arm around Zuko for a tight squeeze they both held, a squeeze that had carried them both through hard storms- both the metaphorical kind a few of the real ones.

Then Zuko eased away, turning to look down at the kids. "Come on, you two. You need to both be sitting at the dinner table before we can start!" He shepherded Izumi and Kosshi across the room while they asked him if he won any wars today.

Sokka lingered by the door.

Mai nearly collapsed into his side, seeking his strength for a brief moment. After Zuko's touch, Sokka had more than enough to share. Her mask fell away and Sokka was reminded of how thin she really was beneath her robes and hidden weapons. How long had she buried her own mourning for what they had to do to Kosshi, waiting for Sokka to arrive?

He held her, sharing as much of his spirit as he could.

Then it was time for the Kitungak Feast.

"Okay," Sokka said only after he and Mai had physically separate again. He clapped to draw everyone's attention. "With the resting of the sun, the Festival of Kitungak can officially begin!"

Kosshi bounced in his chair, eyeing the foods spread across the table. "We can eat now?"

Sokka shook his finger in warning. "You can only eat the foods that are served to you! The Festival of Kitungak is a celebration of kids. Parents show their love for the children of the tribe. We start with dinner, and then there's a storytime, and finally we get to the presents!" At that word, both Izumi and Kosshi temporarily forgot all the treats on the dinner table. "But I seem to have forgotten to bring any presents! Oh, no!"

Mai snorted. "Amado is so forgetful."

"Yeah," Izumi called. "Father says you'd forget your own boomerang around if you didn't tie it to yourself every morning!"

"I do say that." Zuko smirked at Sokka. "And I stand by it."

Sokka walked over to Zuko, gave him his meanest mock-glare, and bumped his forehead against the other's. "Well, it's a good thing I have the world's most eager Fire Lord to help me out, right?"

"Right!" Zuko raised a hand like he was making an official speech. "Fine toys from across the Fire Nation have been brought to the palace for the benefit of the two most well-behaved children in the entire history of the Royal Family. But like Amado said, those come later."

"I did say that." Sokka turned back to the kids and the dinner table. "Right now is the dinner. For the Kitungak Feast, children are served food by their father and drinks by their mother. Looks like we have a lot of good spiced meat here, and- ooh, is that sweet milk?"

"Amado has a sharp eye." Mai came over, lined up two cups, and poured some of the sweet milk into each. She took a cup in each hand and placed them in front of the children. "Prosperity and luck to you."

The kids each took a heavy swig of the sweet milk. Izumi planted her cup down with a pleased squeal and said, "Okay, Father, give me food now!"

"Food!" Kosshi slapped his own cup down in imitation of his sister. He looked briefly at Zuko, and then turned to gaze up at Sokka. "Amado, can you give me my food instead of Father?"

Sokka's heart skipped a beat.

Then Zuko said, "I think that's a wonderful idea. I'll serve Izumi, and Amado can serve Kosshi."

It was with tears in his eyes that Sokka laid a dish of spiced goose-duck in front of the little Firebender. "Strength and honor to you, Kosshi." He had dreamed, when he was younger, of the day he would be able to say those words to a son.

Kosshi was a Firebender now, but Sokka had learned that dreams could come to life in all kinds of unexpected shapes.

2. Armor

Mai pressed a hand to her side and grimaced from both the sharp pain that resulted and the sticky wet feel of her robes. Still, it wasn't that sticky, so she decided that she wasn't in any danger of bleeding out.

Unless the wound tore wider.

Unless a horde of stupid rebels stabbed her a few more times.

Unless help didn't come.

But of course she didn't say any of this to the men. For one, she simply didn't want to, and second, they were having so much fun planning their defense together.

"And we can use the secret passages to move between ambush-points."

"Too bad we don't have anything to make explosives with."

"...I dunno, how much bird-poop do you figure is on the roof?"

"Not enough to be explosive."

"Well, if we- no, you're right, we don't have the time. It's a shame, though. Now that I've thought of it, I really want to make bomb out of bird-poop."

"Uncle used to say that the best ideas need to be planted and nurtured for the time of proper harvest."

"Yeah, I know, I know. Of course, we're not exactly talking about growing tea leaves, here."

"Maybe if she drank more calming tea, Aza wouldn't be trying to kill us."

"Yeah, she's not exactly as subtle as her mother, is she? On the other hand, if she's here trying to have her insurgency kill us, that means she can't be off causing trouble for Izumi and Kosshi."

"Hm. That's true. So are we ready?"

"I'm ready. You ready?"

"I am. Mai?"

She opened her eyes to find Zuko and Sokka looking to her. She instinctively straightened, not wanting to let these men down in any way. She wanted to be worthy of all that they had given her, but her wound protested that particular stance, and she found herself curling and hissing.

In an instant, they were both beside her and holding her up.

Not that she needed it.

Still, it was a nice gesture.

Sokka leaned down to examine her side. "Ooh, this is bad."

"No it isn't," she said.

"Yes, actually, it is. It's not deep, but these muscles are used for everything but a very particular kind of slouch. If we were just going to be hanging around like a bunch of loiterers, I'd say you're fine, but when we barricaded ourselves in this old temple we were kind of hoping to do this whole hit-and-fade defense thing until help arrived. Remember that plan?"

Zuko gave her his most serious stare. "You need to hide. Sokka and I will keep the enemy occupied."

Mai met Zuko's gaze as she reached down and ran her fingers through Sokka's hair. "Hey, Sokka, how long does it take a dragon to fly across the Badlands?"

"Er-"

"And how long would our troops then need to cross back across the Badlands to get to us?"

"Well-"

Zuko raised a hand to stroke a finger across Mai's chin and whispered, "Druk will bring help. He's small, but he's strong and clever."

"I know, Zuko." It took all her strength not to shiver at the gentle touch. Shivering would irritate her wound again. "But you still need me to fight. Both you and Sokka need me." She looked down to the more practical of the two men.

Sokka straightened from his crouch, eyes focused on nothing. Then they snapped over to something over Mai's shoulder, and his face lit up in that smile that always made her heart beat a little faster. "So if you won't stay out of the fight, we'll just have to get you in fighting condition!" He pointed behind her.

Mai let Zuko support her as they both turned to look.

A suit of ancient armor stood on display in a dusty alcove, a forgotten decoration of a bygone era that nevertheless was made of hard, protective metal.

Mai examined it. "That much armor will slow me down. And I need access to my knives. Zuko's the only one of us with unlimited weaponry."

But Zuko said, "We can make it work. You're less maneuverable now anyway, so we'll only use pieces that don't make it worse. That should leave us enough to support your wounded area and give you a little extra protection."

"And we'll rig something up for your blades," Sokka added. "I've given a lot of thought to hidden weapons over the years."

Mai sighed. She was out of reasonable objections, and she'd never quite figured out a strategy for denying these two when they were both trying to do something for her.

She started to shrug, winced at the pain, and then used her hands to motion her surrender.

Zuko and Sokka immediately got to work.

She had been all set to do this herself, but before she could even think about how to start undressing without causing further pain, they were taking off her outer robes. She surrendered to their care, shutting her eyes and focusing on their touches. She had intended her attention to be for judging the placement of knives and armor, but a not unpleasant side-effect was a hyperawareness of the hands of her men.

They worked confidently and efficiently, removing clothing and weapon harnesses to unveil her. She could tell the differences between their touches, was experienced enough to know when it was Sokka or Zuko brushing their fingers against her skin, just like she could tell her children apart just from the sound of their footsteps. Unexpectedly, the sensations relaxed her, draining a tension she hadn't known had been accumulating in her body since Aza's razor disc had sliced into her side.

Then Zuko and Sokka began building her up. They brought together clothing and armor and hidden pouches to wrap and strengthen her, using an unconscious knowledge of her flesh and weaknesses to prepare her for battle. They could never know how much they truly meant to her, she felt, because she knew how poor she was at communicating that type of thing. She took, but couldn’t imagine that she gave anything in return. Certainly, it hadn’t been her to find a path forward with Kosshi.

They worked, oblivious to her pain and pleasure. She answered them when they asked questions, both of them speaking in that distracted manner that always preceded their more spectacular scientific collaborations. Heh. Men. They had no idea what their touch did to her.

She felt like a teenager again, in the best and worst ways.

All too soon, they finished. The armor was in place, a construction that freed her muscles from their burdens. Mai opened her eyes and tried walking around, pleased to find no pain. She stretched out her arms and then moved them in various mock-throwing motions, and found that while her reach was more limited, she still hadn't found any pain.

Finally, she fully extended both arms, grabbed Zuko and Sokka by their shirts, and yanked them both close enough to plant a kiss on each of their lips, one after another.

Still no pain. They did good work.

Letting go her men, Mai nodded. "I'm ready to fight." She ran her hands down her body, cataloguing all the blades and razors and knives that had been strapped to her. Without looking up, she added, "And if I don't make it, you two have my permission to handle Kosshi however you both want. Don't feel you need to hold back on my account."

Sokka gasped at that, always the more expressive of the two. When Mai looked up, she found him blanching at her. Zuko, for his part, just had that stony glower he liked so much.

Before either could say anything, the echoes of shouted orders and snapped battle-cries came up through the halls. The enemy had arrived. It was time to survive, to mark time until reinforcements arrived.

Time to rely on each other.

But then, it was always that time.

Mai drew a pair of razor discs and led her men into the darkness.

She vowed to herself to lead them back out, so they could all see their children again. And maybe do more of this touching again when death wasn’t knocking on the door.

3. Alone

For Zuko, the worst part of being a Master Firebender was the sensitivity to temperature.

That wasn't to say he was especially uncomfortable in extreme climates. The wastes around the North Pole weren't fun for anyone even with the proper protection, and Zuko had survived swimming the freezing waters and then marching through a blizzard. Nor was heat any great problem, considering the number of times he had fought his way through volcano fortresses.

No, the problem in the sensitivity was in his perception.

Zuko could feel the man in his arms growing colder.

He could feel Sokka dying.

Sokka's body wasn't actually cooling. (Not yet.) His inner fire, though, was down to just a few glowing embers. All people had an inner fire- not only Firebenders, and certainly not only the people of the Fire Nation. Everyone had it, whether they called it Qi or lifeglow or spirit whatever. When that last bit of inner fire was gone, Sokka would stop breathing. His body would stop generating heat. And then his corpse would cool.

Zuko knew this.

Sokka knew this.

They had witnessed it together with Mai, years ago.

Zuko tightened his hold and laid his head atop Sokka's.

They were lying in bed, Zuko stretched out with Sokka snoozing on top of him, back in the Fire Palace. They both liked to travel these days, now that Zuko was no longer Fire Lord and Sokka no longer an active chief. Republic City was where they spent most of their time between journeys, but when Zuko first saw Sokka's inner fire begin to flicker, they had gone back to the Fire Nation.

Home.

As soon as they arrived, Zuko had sent out word. That was two days ago. He had hoped the message would be received in time, but it was still just the two of them here.

And Zuko could tell the exact rate at which Sokka's inner fire was cooling.

It wouldn't be long now.

Sokka sighed in his sleep. He felt so light, these days, compared to the man he had been in his youth. Mass and vigor had been taken by the years. But then, Zuko had probably diminished in the same way. That was the nature of time. Of aging. It had happened to Mai, and now to Sokka.

Zuko decided that there was no point in waking him. There hadn't been a formal exchange of goodbyes, but there was no need for it. The look that had passed between them when Zuko suggested going home was enough. They didn't need words for most things, these days.

No, not long.

Just another-

The door on the opposite side of the room flew open, and Izumi practically ran in. She was still wearing her traveling clothes, the lopsided crown in her hair the only sign that she held the burden of being Fire Lord. As she fell to her knees beside the bed, Zuko could even see that her glasses were all smudged as if hurriedly put on and then completely forgotten.

She ran a hand over Sokka's head, brushing the last of his hair into place. Then she reached up further to caress Zuko's chin, and he could only wonder when her hands had become warmer than his own. They had always been warmer than Mai's.

Izumi looked up at Zuko.

He nodded to his daughter.

Just in time.

Sokka stirred, prompting Zuko to ease his embrace a little. Sokka raised his head and opened his eyes just a crack. A smile blossomed on his face when he saw the new face above his. "Izumi." His voice was a whisper in the wind.

"I'm here, Amado." She moved to brush his hair again. "I'm here."

"Me, too!"

Zuko looked up sharply at the pronouncement, almost unable to believe it when Kosshi ran into the room in a flurry of Fire Sage robes. Kosshi was soon kneeling beside his older sister, taking Sokka's hands within his own.

"I made it, Amado." Kosshi sniffled. "I made it."

"Hey," Sokka said. "Now it's a party. When- when do we- eat-" His head drooped.

Izumi gasped, but Zuko could feel that the inner fire was not yet gone. He moved a hand to rest on top of Kosshi's, and then slipped the other under Sokka's. Kosshi's hands had always been the coldest in the family, perhaps the coldest to ever belong to a Fire Sage. But then, Mai's had always been cold, too. And Sokka's had never been hot.

Zuko had expected that having the children here would make Mai's absence feel even sharper, but instead, it was almost like she was just being her usual silent but present self.

He nodded to Kosshi, who took a deep breath and began the proper words:

"Go on to The Lands of your ancestors, the dominion of the Tribe forevermore. We, your Tribe, rejoice at the gift you will be to the ancestors. We rejoice at the g-" His voice faded. Kosshi squeezed his eyes shut and continued, "gift you were to us. We will keep you in song and memory until the Tribe is whole on The Lands once more. Go, our chief and our warrior. Go, Father."

Sokka's breathing stopped even as his smile grew wider.

Zuko rested his head atop Sokka's once more, and felt the inner fire fade to empty coldness. The warmth began leaking from Sokka's thin limbs.

He was gone.

Mai had left years ago.

Zuko was alone.

Alone with their children.

It wasn't until after the funeral that Zuko brought the deviation in Kosshi's prayer up. He waited until he could have a private moment with both of his offspring; he hadn't missed the lack of surprise in his daughter's eyes when at how Kosshi finished the goodbye.

"You knew," were the only words Zuko felt were needed.

Kosshi nodded. "I did. I'm sorry, Father."

Sorry? Zuko shook his head. "Don't. I'm glad you knew. But how?"

Kosshi looked to Izumi, giving her- eldest and Fire Lord- the chance to speak first. She shrugged. "I knew because Kosshi knew. He could never keep a secret, even when he didn't say anything."

Zuko looked back to his son.

In the end, the only explanation provided was the only one that would ever make sense:

"I guess I always knew."

That night, Zuko lit candles for Mai and Sokka.

He would just have the keep the flame of their love alive by himself, for a little while longer. But their children would live on, a testament to the world of what the three of them had shared.

Had made.

Together.

Zuko couldn't say how they had made it work, but he felt no surprise that it had.

END